NASA's First New Spacesuit In 20 Years Is Its Own Airlock 164
Zothecula writes "The current U.S. space suit used by NASA is a dinosaur. Designed in 1992, it was only ever intended to be used by crews aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems, but with eyes turning increasingly toward missions to the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, space explorers need something better. That's why NASA is designing its first new suit in twenty years. Developed by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), the Z-1 prototype space suit currently undergoing vacuum testing at the Johnson Space Center is a wearable laboratory of new technology. And it's a hatchback."
Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacuum? (Score:5, Interesting)
Leaving a spacesuit docked on a ship and now having nothing but the structural integrity of that suit between a crew and hard vacuum doesn't sound like a particularly bright idea.
Re:Meh. (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, where do you put your testicles? It's all well and good to show a woman in the suit, but I wouldnt want mechanical counter-pressure on my block and tackle.
Re:Only suit fabric protecting crew from hard vacu (Score:2, Interesting)
They're fines, not dust! Calling fines dust is like calling dust gravel!
2 things (Score:4, Interesting)
1. wasnt this on Top Gear last year? when james may drove around the lunar rover they're never going to actually use? pretty sure it was.
2. the phrase 'rear entry spacesuit' is fucking hiLARious.
Re:Depressing, isn't it... (Score:5, Interesting)
"It does seem that the few private companies are making more progress in 5 years than NASA can in 15"
Private companies are not even at Gemini level; that's about NASA's 45 years ago, so I'd say you are a bit overenthusiastic, don't you think so?
old idea? (Score:5, Interesting)
It made me think of the film Andromeda Strain (1969), but while googlising for a picture, I found this 1954 image from a nuclear facility.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/tail-of-hot-suit-serves-as-entrance/ [modernmechanix.com]
Yes, these have 'tails', but the climbing-in-through-the-back part is there.
Re:N00b (Score:5, Interesting)
56k modems in the US are/were limited by FCC regs to about 53k [lowendmac.com].
From this url [2fords.net]:
The chilling news came just days before U.S. Robotics shipped its x2 modems: the FCC won't let modems transfer data at a rate faster than 53 kbps. The legal snafu has to do with a long-standing FCC regulation known as Part 68, which was never intended to affect modems. The problem is that if you send too much power through the phone line, your conversation can get loud enough to creep into neighboring lines. This is called crosstalk, and Part 68 was meant to prevent it. But to reach 56 kbps, the new modems must send more power down the line.